Instant Family
by LadyNightRunner
Summary: Anything that comes from Sephiroth's body is, by right, his property. This extends to three young boys he finds in the labs one night, even if keeping them means learning a whole new way to live life. Too bad they don't come with a manual.
1. A Discovery

This, dear readers, is what we're ending the year with. The beginning of another story.

This first chapter has sat in my drive for about six months, with me telling myself it wasn't fair to post the first chapter and force you all to wait on my fickle muses to get their butts in gear to update something else again and again. But I like where this is going, and I've been inspired to write more lately (I'm sure you've noticed). And what's more, this story will be a bit of you as well.

I have an uncle who meditates with his rabbits, one of which shakes his meditation bells when she thinks he's had enough. I have an aunt who has encountered the 8-10 foot bull snake named Matilda that lives on our family property. I have a sister who I have seen charging across the hills in her pajamas, bathrobe and rubber boots, cranking the BB gun up and aiming at the sheep running terrified before her at 7 in the morning. And now, I want YOUR childhood stories. This is a tale about children, and I do not have enough strange and classic kid stories to furnish three kids of varying ages. I need your help in this. Send me your childhood memories in a PM. If I use yours in a story (And I probably will), you will be given proper credit and many thank yous.

Happy New Year, everyone. Thank you for being with me!

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><p>When Sephiroth couldn't sleep, he wandered. The ShinRa building was a strange place at night, dimly lit and silent, the empty hallways stretching out forever into shadows.<p>

Most of the soldiers who had night guard were used to seeing him, and he had an understanding with them: they would not report that the General was walking the building at night in an attempt to deal with frequent insomnia and he would not punish them for relaxing in their duties, playing solitaire on the floor or listening to music on concealed ear buds, so they left him alone, politely acknowledging him when he moved past them and otherwise saying nothing.

It was rare for Sephiroth to venture past the fourth basement level of the building, largely because he had very unpleasant memories of the labs and holding areas the deeper levels housed, but some nights he needed the heavy silence that only a subterranean space could have. Slowly, over a period of six months, he worked his way down, from minor labs to highly funded ones to the specimen rooms, testing areas, storage, and finally the labs where things happened that the men behind the desks high up in the building funded without knowing the details of. Those dark, claustrophobic corridors were always empty, with no guards and no cameras. Many of the labs and rooms were empty, waiting for someone to come up with a crazy idea that needed to be kept under wraps.

The insomnia seemed to grow worse as the seasons waned, so that Sephiroth hardly slept at all in the depths of winter and felt as though he could sleep all day in high summer. As autumn drew to a close, he found himself far underground, trailing his fingers along the wall of a hallway on the seventh level. It was cold down there, and strangely humid, just enough to make the back of his neck sticky.

Something hummed softly further down the hallway, drawing his attention away from the slick paint under his fingers. When he looked, there was a faint greenish light pooling on the floor and wall just before the hall turned a corner. Curious, he followed the sound and came to a viewing window set into the wall, looking in on the room beyond.

Three Mako tubes had been set up in the room, hooked into separate monitors and a wall of control equipment. Sephiroth was familiar with the tubes, having spent far too much time in them as a child; the thick, viscous fluid the tubes were filled with was enhanced with nutrients and varying levels of Mako as well as oxygen, so that when a subject was plunged into it, they only needed a bare minimum of equipment within the fluid to monitor the condition of the specimen. Sephiroth remembered the cold burning as the fluid filled his lungs, the terrible ache as his body readjusted to absorbing oxygen from the fluid instead of air, and being pulled out of the tubes with no warning only to suffer all over again as his system readjusted again. Most others were given the courtesy of a breathing mask.

Three children hung suspended inside the tubes. Sephiroth was surprised to see that all three of them were without breathing masks. A few tubes and lines were hooked up to them, but there wasn't much there beyond the basic monitoring equipment, indicating that they were being kept for something rather than being worked on.

They looked like him

Suddenly terrified, Sephiroth rushed around the corner and tried the door. Unlocked. He shoved it open and hurried inside, halting at the base of the middle tube and staring at the thin form inside it.

The boy couldn't have been more than seven years old, short and thin, his ribs showing faintly under his pale skin. His hair was a medium shade of silver, darker than Sephiroth's but still recognizable as a close variation of it, and floated around his face. A tattoo on the inside of his wrist had a small triangle and the number 3.

To his left, another boy, tall, slender, almost effeminate. His hair was long, though the exact length was impossible to tell as it was suspended in the Mako, and roughly the same shade as the first boy's, perhaps a shade or two darker. He appeared much older, thirteen or so, and the tattoo on his wrist had the same symbol with the number 1.

The last boy was physically larger than the other two, shorter than the second but taller than the first, and appeared to be between them in age as well. His hair was short and soft-looking, more or less the same shade at the first child's. While he appeared young, his muscle definition was only just believable on a child of eleven. His tattoo had the number 2.

The youngest one twitched in his tube. A breath later, the other two did the same, almost in the exact same way. Then the middle one opened his eyes. They were icy green and slit-pupiled, the same eyes he saw in the mirror every day. His eyes.

He'd stepped behind the main control panel and was keying in an access code before he really registered what he was doing. It was a bit of a surprise to find that the access code he had- supplied by Reno, who had a file of access codes for all over the building for just about every department- got him into the controls. Once it had, however, he set to releasing the seals of all three containment tubes. Mako drained out of them into holding tanks set into the floor, and after a moment, the tube retracted as well, leaving the three boys held up by the monitoring equipment.

Sephiroth vaulted the monitor station and went to the nearest child, number 1. He began carefully removing the needles and sticky pads and patches, and was surprised when a slender hand stopped him. The boy pointed at child number 2, who was struggling with a long needle inserted in his forearm. Sephiroth nodded and went to help before he managed to hurt himself, wondering how these boys hadn't responded to the sudden transition fro breathing through liquid to having air in their lungs.

"_Hllgck_!" The youngest child crumpled, tearing monitoring equipment off his body as he fell. He landed on his hands and knees, bleeding sluggishly from ragged wounds, and retched, coughing hard. Thick green fluid ran from his nose and mouth, puddling around his hands as he heaved, ridding his stomach and lungs of the nutrient sludge he'd been floating in.

The older two fell as well, both at once, leaving Sephiroth uncertain of which to go to. They decided for him- the two older ones huddled together, leaving the smallest to tremble on the floor, arms threatening to buckle under his slight weight. Sephiroth knelt beside him, sliding one hand under his body to support him. His skin was slippery with the nutrient solution, and under it Sephiroth could feel remarkably well-developed muscle spasming and jerking with his gagging.

Finally, quiet fell on the room. All three children huddled in puddles of vomit and nutrient fluid, panting and shivering. The older ones had scooted closer to Sephiroth and the little one, and when they could move without gagging, they both went to the youngest boy, touching him gently. Sephiroth watched them, noting that they seemed to communicate without needing to speak. He wondered if they could truly speak mind to mind, or if it was just a product of being very close to one another.

"Who are you?" The smallest boy spoke, looking up at Sephiroth through sticky, draggled bangs.

"I'm…my name is Sephiroth. I think I may be your father. Or your brother."

"We don't have any other brothers," the tallest one murmured. "We are the only ones. And we don't have a father."

The middle boy stared up at Sephiroth, green eyes wide and curious. "He looks just like us."

"He's a liar, Loz, just like all the men who come in here."

"B-but…he let us out."

"More tests," the little one spat. "Shut up."

"You should be grateful," Sephiroth muttered, getting to his feet and wiping slime off his hands. "I could have left you in there. I know how miserable it is."

"You…you've been in a tube too?" Loz asked. "Why?"

"When I was young, that was where they kept me whenever they wanted to closely monitor whatever they had done to my body recently."

The tallest boy drew Loz into a loose hug, looking from Sephiroth to his smallest brother and back. "They keep files about us in the cabinet over there," he said, pointing across the room.

While Sephiroth flipped through the three files, learning that the smallest boy was Kadaj and the tallest was Yazoo, the trio went to the drain in the corner and pulled the handle that drenched all three of them in icy water, rinsing the slime off and leaving them wet and gasping.

"Here," Sephiroth said quietly. "I found it."

Three pairs of feet slapped wetly across the bare concrete, and three pairs of eyes fixed on the papers Sephiroth was holding. He pointed silently at the sheet on top, stating that the goal of the experiment was to recombine Sephiroth's DNA with viable eggs and see what happened. The recombination was to come after a little tweaking, in the hopes of bringing out certain traits in the semi-clones, each for a different purpose.

"So I am your brother."

"Or our father," Yazoo said. "It's _your_ DNA they used, not your father's."

"I like the sound of brother better," Sephiroth murmured. "I'm not old enough to have children your age."

"How old are you, then?"

"Twenty four."

"You look older."

"I always have."

"Are you going to leave us here?" Loz asked timidly.

"I…no, I don't think so. They had no right to make you and then keep you from me."

"You can't have us," Kadaj spat, bristling like a kitten, small and rather defenseless but not caring at all. "We're not _property_." It bothered Sephiroth that he was so young but could speak so intelligently.

Sephiroth looked at Kadaj, then decided to take the route he often took with new cadets who were so terrified they became belligerent out of self defense. "I never said you were property. But which would you prefer? Being left here to be punished for escaping your tubes and then put back into them for more tests? Or taken upstairs where you can be protected and won't ever be put into a tube again?"

"Upstairs," Yazoo said firmly. Loz nodded in agreement. Kadaj looked like he might argue, then gave his brothers an irritated look and sighed.

"But you don't _own_ us," he reminded Sephiroth. "We get to have real clothes, and real food, and we don't have to do tests all the time."

"That was what I had in mind, yes," Sephiroth said evenly. "But you will get less of everything and of much poorer quality if you continue to behave this way. I expect you to respect me, and to be thankful."

"You can't _make_ me respect you."

"No, I can't. But I can teach you to respect people who do things for you rather than to you. And I can teach you to respect the fact that how you behave directly impacts how you are treated. If you really get under my skin, I can promise that your brothers will have a better life than you, and that you will be _distinctly_ aware of it. If you behave yourself, you will have a comfortable life." He was more than capable of providing for three young children, financially at least. His monthly salary was appropriate for a man in his position, but he rarely bought anything beyond the bare essentials the company didn't provide, and the bulk of his wages grew quietly in a personal savings account. It would be a simple thing to pay for clothes and food and whatever else his brothers would need.

"I'm not going to like you," Kadaj muttered.

"Did I say that you have to?"

"No, but-"

"Do they keep some kind of clothing around here for you? Robes or something?"

"In the cabinets over there," Yazoo said at once.

"Get dressed. I don't want to stay down here any longer than is necessary."

"They won't let you keep us," Kadaj spat, obviously trying a new tactic.

"Actually, they can't really argue against my claim to you," Sephiroth said mildly, closing and stacking the files and tucking them under one arm. "Since you are biologically my children, I have claim to you before any one else. And really, Kadaj, there is no one in this company so suicidal that they would willingly try to physically take you from me, were I to refuse to give you up. But if you like it here so much, you can stay. I'm not stopping you. I'm just going to take your brothers home with me and make them some hot chocolate."

"What's hot chocolate?" Loz wanted to know.

"It's a drink. I like to have it before bed sometimes. It's warm and sweet and it smells good. I put marshmallows in it."

"What are marshmallows?"

"Little pillows of sugar and a bit of vanilla. They squeak when you bite into them, and they melt in hot chocolate."

"That sounds good."

"It is."

"We can really have some?"

"You can have a whole mug each, if you like it."

Loz grinned and ran to the cabinet, pulling out long cotton tunics and flinging them all over in search of one that would fit him. Yazoo took slippers out of a second cabinet, handing Loz a pair in exchange for a tunic in his size. Dressed, he carried another tunic and a pair of slippers to Kadaj, laying both in front of him.

"If you want to come," he said quietly. "If you don't, maybe we can come down and visit you."

"You'd _leave_ me?"

Yazoo looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. "We hate it here. _You_ hate it here. This is our chance to get out. I'm going to take it. So is Loz. We want something better. If you don't want to come, then fine. We'll miss you."

Kadaj was screaming when they left the room. Yazoo held the files so he and Loz could each hang onto one of Sephiroth's hands.

Halfway down the hall, the screaming stopped. Sephiroth didn't slow down, though Loz hesitated for a moment and looked back. There was nothing in the hallway behind them.

Just as they reached the elevator doors, however, bare feet slapped on the concrete floor behind them. "Waaaaiiiiit!" Kadaj wailed. Sephiroth turned around to see the boy tearing down the hallway towards them, tunic in one hand and slippers in the other.

He couldn't stop in time and ran smack into Sephiroth's legs, which he clung to, half panting, half sobbing. When he'd caught his breath he looked up at Sephiroth, red in the face and teary-eyed.

"I wanna come too," he whimpered. "Don't leave me alone."

The elevator doors opened with a soft chime. Sephiroth stepped inside, taking all three children with him. "I never said you couldn't come," he said quietly. The doors closed on them.


	2. Differentiating

Here we are, loves, a considerably longer and more interesting new chapter. I've received some FANTASTIC ideas and childhood stories from some of you, and I'll be starting to work them into the story in another chapter or two, once the kids' presence in Sephiroth's life has become acknowledged by a few others (what fun are childhood shenanigans without an audience to laugh at them?).

I'm looking for a beta, if any of you are interested. I need someone to proof my sporadic attempts at writing and to occasionally tolerate me bouncing plot bunnies off of them until one sticks.

There is new info up on my profile, which is currently being revamped. Check back for offers, suggestions, ideas, and me being...well, myself.

Read and review, darlings! And keep the ideas coming!

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><p>Apparently hot chocolate didn't make children drowsy. Sephiroth stood in his living room and watched Loz chase Kadaj around the room, laughing like a maniac. Whenever he got too close, Kadaj smacked him over the head with a throw pillow and put on a little more speed. Yazoo sat, tucked up into a corner of the couch, reading through a book about battle tactics with an intensity that would have had Sephiroth worried if he hadn't been too busy wondering how to get Loz and Kadaj to fall asleep.<p>

Come to think of it, maybe it was the marshmallows that had gotten them so wound up. Loz had been so excited to try them that Sephiroth had let the kids help themselves, and all three of them had eaten several…just while he was watching, dear god could that much sugar kill a child? Was he going to be hiding bodies by dawn?

The manic chase was starting to slow. Then, without warning, Loz stumbled over and wrapped himself around Sephiroth's legs. "I don't feel good," he whined. "My head feels weird. And my stomach hurts."

"Too much sugar," Sephiroth murmured, peeling Loz off of him. "You need to go to bed."

"But I don't wanna."

"Well I'm sorry, but you aren't going to feel any better until you've had some rest. That goes for you too, Kadaj."

"You can't make me! And why didn't you say Yazoo has to go?"

"Because he's half asleep already, so I don't think he needs to be told. Bed. Now."

Kadaj pouted and sulked, but let Loz grab his hand and tow him after Sephiroth.

/-

Sephiroth managed to get all three children into old t-shirts of his- though the only one who wasn't lost in their shirt was Yazoo, who was tall enough to wear it. They had a brief argument over the brushing of teeth, as Sephiroth only had his toothbrush and Yazoo said that using someone else's toothbrush was disgusting. Sephirth informed him that tooth decay was even more dsgusting and that he would find them each a toothbrush of their own as soon as he had the time. Teeth were brushed, Yazoo and Kadaj submitted to a brief hair-brushing, and all three children made themselves comfortable in Sephiroth's bed.

This was the newest snag. Chasing the kids around the apartment had worn Sephiroth out and he was feeling like he might actually want to sleep, but there wasn't room in the bed for him. He considered moving them, then changed his mind; it wasn't worth the effort it would take to get them moved and settled down again.

He slept on the couch. He was too tall to comfortably lie on it and wound up with his neck at an odd angle against one arm of the couch and his calves on the other arm, quite uncomfortable. He fell asleep anyway.

/

Morning came a little late, as Sephiroth didn't have his alarm clock next to his couch, and the clock usually served as the incentive to get out of bed- he was awake before it, but rarely wanted to actually get up.

Getting off the couch took awhile; his neck and the back of his head ached, as did his lower back and his knees. Stretching and groaning, he shuffled into the kitchen to make coffee and figure out what he should feed three children for breakfast. His own breakfast usually consisted of little more than a protein bar and some coffee, sometimes something more fancy if he had the time and the inclination. But he was fairly sure he should be feeding them a more complete meal. Growing children needed that sort of thing.

"What are you doing?"

Sephiroth jumped. Yazoo was sitting on the kitchen counter with another book open in his lap- the second in a series about Wutain history. He was still wearing his borrowed t-shirt, with a pair of socks apparently swiped from Sephiroth's dresser pulled most of the way up his calves and still drooping off his toes. (Sephiroth was thankful that Yazoo hadn't found the ones he sometimes wore under his boots, which were more or less thigh-highs.)

"I'm…getting breakfast. What are you doing up?"

"I don't really sleep." Yazoo checked his page number and closed the book, laying it on the counter beside him. "Not at night, anyway. Some of the scientists said that I'm nocturnal. They called it a defect."

"In humans, it's called being a night owl," Sephiroth corrected. "It isn't…bad, exactly. Are you tired during the day?"

"No. I sleep when I need to. Are you a night owl too? You were awake last night."

"I just have insomnia. It's a little different. Do you want some orange juice? I think I still have some."

"Some what?"

"Orange juice. It's the juice squeezed out of a fruit called an orange. Haven't you ever had it?"

"No."

Sephiroth frowned. He hadn't had many treats when he'd lived in the labs, but orange juice had been a staple in his diet.

"What did they feed you down there?"

"Nutirient drinks and bars and porridges. Plain meat and vegetables once a day. Water and pills. Didn't they feed you the same thing?"

"I had real food more often than that." Sephiroth poured two glasses of orange juice and handed one to Yazoo. "They probably decided it would spoil you like they believe it spoiled me. Here. Try it."

Yazoo wrapped both hands around the heavy glass and examined the contents. "It's not orange. It's sort of yellow."

"The peel of the fruit is what's usually orange. The inside is yellow-orange, and the juice tends to come out yellow, depending on the variety of fruit. It's a kind of citrus." Sephiroth sipped at his juice. "I like citrus, so you'll get to try a lot of it."

"So a citrus is a fruit?"

"It's a kind of fruit. They're tart or sour, they have segments inside, and they have a thick peel full of aromatic oils. They grow on trees in hotter parts of the world."

Yazoo nodded and sipped carefully at the juice. His eyebrows went up, and he sat back, eyeing the juice for a moment.

"It's…different."

"Do you like it?"

"I think so." He tried a little more and nodded. "I like it."

"I don't suppose asking you what you'd like for breakfast would do much good, would it?"

"Food?"

Sephiroth groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't need a headache this early in the morning. If he got one, he'd never get rid of it before he had to work, and it would only get worse as the day passed.

"Isn't there anything you'd like to try?"

"Nothing that I know you're supposed to have in the morning. I only know things for dinner and lunch and sweet things. And not a lot of those, either."

"How abot scrambled eggs with bacon in them?"

"What's bacon?"

"It's part of a pig. The meat is cured, sometimes smoked, and then you fry it up. I like to chop it into little pieces and mix it into raw eggs before I cook them, and then put cheese on top."

"That sounds nice."

"I'll mae some, then."

"Thank you."

Sephiroth wisely made extra, as the smell of the cookng bacon roused the other two boys and they shuffled into the kitchen, yawning and sleepy and interested in whatever was going on.

"What's that?" Loz wanted to know, peering into the pan in Sephiroth's hand.

"Scrambled eggs with bacon," Yazoo told him. "It's for breakfast."

"Not porridge?"

"I don't eat porridge," Sephiroth told him. "Sometimes I eat oatmeal, which is like porridge, but it's better, and you can put nice things like fruit and cinnamon into it."

"Oh." Loz looked again. "That doesn't look like a egg."

"It doesn't?"

"Aren't eggs supposed to be round and white and hard?"

"They're like that on the outside. When you break them open, they have some clear goo and a round yellow part, and when you mix those together, it looks like this when you cook it."

"What are those little brown bits?"

"I wanna see!" Kadaj demanded, trying and failing to climb up Loz's back. Sephiroth obligingly held the pan down where he could see. "That looks gross. I don't want it."

"That's what we're having this morning. If you don't like it, then you don't have to eat it, but I'm not making you something different."

"You said you were going to be nice to us!"

"I did. But I didn't say I was going to give you everything you wanted. That won't do you any good."

Kadaj made a furious sound and stormed out of the kitchen.

"Is he always like that?" Sephiroth asked, mostly speaking to himself.

"Kadaj is the baby," Yazoo said quietly. "And the scientists say he's the best out of us three. He's supposed to grow up to be perfect. But he's mean sometimes. He hits and bites, and he used to scratch, but they cut his nails down too short for him to do it anymore."

"I see."

"Are you goig to punish him? The scientists did."

"I think not having any breakfast will be punishment enough."

"Oh."

/-

The eggs were a success. Loz ate all of his, plus two slices of toast and a large glass of orange juice, then wandered over to the couch and fell asleep again. Yazoo ate quietly, not as much as Loz, and helped clean up after, though he had to be shown what to do. Sephioth ate everything that was left, got dressed, and managed to get at least Yazoo to brush his teeth. Kadaj was back in bed, glaring and growling at anyone who dared to get too close.

"I have to go to work now," Sephiroth explained to Yazoo, crouched before him in the entry. "I'll come back around lunch time. Can you keep an eye on things until I come back?"

Yazoo's eyes were large and full of wonder. "I get to be in charge?"

"Do you think you can do it?"

He nodded.

"Then yes, you're in charge. I don't think Kadaj will come out of the bedroom for awhile, so you needn't worry about him. There are lots of books in the living room, and you can watch the television if you want to- the biggest button on the front turns it on, and the up and down-facing triangle keys change the channel. Turn it off when you're done, okay?"

Yazoo nodded again.

"I'll come home for lunch, and then I have to go back to work. When I come home in the evening, I'll make dinner, and we can plan tomorrow- I have the day off, and you three need real clothes and a few other things."

"We get clothes of our own?"

"Of course. You can't run around in my shirts and socks forever."

"Okay."

"If you need me for something, the phone on the wall has the phone number for my office written beside it. If you dial 4 after it, it will go right to my office and you won't have to talk to my secretary. Do you understand?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good. I'll be back in a few hours." Sephiroth got up and turned for the door, pulling his coat around him.

"Have a good day," Yazoo said quietly behind him. "That's what you're supposed to say, isn't it? When someone leaves for work?"

Sephiroth smiled. "That's exactly what you say. You have a good day too."

"Thank you."

/-

Sephiroth wound up nearly putting his back out during morning drills. Apparently going right into sword work when you had a crick in your spine from sleeping on the couch was not a good idea. He was limping when he returned to his quarters, carrying himself gingerly in the hope of lessening the pain that lanced up his spine with every step.

His apartment was a disaster. Kadaj and Loz were nowhere to be found, but Yazoo was standing in the middle of the living room in tears.

"I tried to stop him," he whimpered, breath catching in his throat. "I tried. But I couldn't and then he got Loz to help him."

Sephiroth knelt, teeth gritted at the pain, to look Yazoo in the eyes. They looked terribly large, huge and green and red-rimmed, gleaming wet with tears. "What happened?"

"Kadaj says he hates you. He says you're going to hurt us, and you only took us because you think we belong to you. He thinks if he makes you angry enough, you'll put us in the tanks again and never come back for us."

"Kadaj doesn't know what he's talking about." Sephiroth touched Yazoo's cheek gently, wondering if that was what he should do. Yazoo whimpered and clutched at his hand, holding it to his chest. "You shouldn't listen to him. He doesn't know anything yet. He's too young."

"He's supposed to be better than us."

"And I am better than him."

That made Yazoo pause. He blinked slowly, thinking about that. Then he smiled very, very faintly.

"You three were made because I am the best," Sephiroth continued. "But you are only parts of me, which means I am better. And you are older, so you are better than him. You are better than Kadaj and better than Loz. Even Loz is better than Kadaj. Do you understand?"

"I think so. So I don't have to do what Kadaj says?"

"Not unless you want to."

"I don't want to."

"Then don't do it. You can always come to me instead."

"Okay."

"Do you know where Kadaj and Loz are now?"

"In your bedroom, I think."

"Thank you."

"Are you going to punish them?"

Sephiroth stood up slowly, feeling his spine creak and pop and protest. "Maybe."

"Can I watch?"

That made Sephiroth stop. He looked down at Yazoo, confused for a moment. Then he shook his head.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"But why not?"

"If I tell you no, Yazoo, that is all you need to know. Go sit on the couch."

Yazoo nodded and did as he was told, watching Sephiroth move into the bedroom.

Sure enough, Kadaj and Loz were on the bed. Loz was also crying, and Sephiroth suspected that Kadaj was the reason, because there were angry red scratches across his face that looked like they had come from someone's fingernails.

Loz flung himself across the bed at Sephiroth with a miserable cry . "I'm sorry!" he wailed, clinging to Sephiroth's thighs and bursting into a flood of tears. "Kadaj said you didn't _care_ and it was our house too and we could do anything we wanted!"

It took a lot of effort to not screech in pain and smack Loz off of him. Instead, Sephiroth gritted his teeth and looked down at Loz. "Get off of me."

"Noooooooo!"

"Loz, I sparred for several hours this morning, and you are hanging onto a very deep bruise. It _hurts_, and I want you off so it doesn't hurt _more._"

Loz backed up in a hurry. Sephiroth caught his chin in one hand and looked him in the eyes, same as he had done with Yazoo, watching for any sign that he was lying. "Did Kadaj make you help him destroy my things, Loz?"

"Y-yeah."

"Why?"

"Because he's better. He's supposed to tell me what to do."

"Kadaj is not your father, nor is he your master. You do not take orders from him. Is that clear?"

"But I-"

"_I_ am your guardian. I am the adult. And I give the orders. Do you understand?"

"No."

"Kadaj is a child. You are a child. So is Yazoo. You do not give orders to each other and you do not get to decide what is right or wrong. I'm very annoyed with what you've done, but I'm starting to understand that you didn't realize how wrong it was. You didn't know not to listen to Kadaj."

"I knew we shouldn't break things, though."

"And you did anyway because he told you to."

"Uh-huh."

"Do not _ever_ do that again. If you do, you'll be punished."

"_Punished_?"

"Yes. Now, I want you to go into the living room and sit on the couch with Yazoo. Don't touch anything but the couch. Do not speak. Do not move until I get there. Understand?"

"Okay."

"And stop crying. It's alright." He reelased Loz and watched the boy scoot out into the living room. Then he urned to Kadaj.

Kadaj snarled at him and backed against the headboard.

"You're a _liar_," he spat. "You don't care about us!" He was filthy, covered in dust and bits of the things he had broken and wet with water from the vase of flowers Sephiroth had had out. The flowers were a old, so the water smelled a little as well.

"And what makes you think that?"

"You're just like the doctors!"

Sephiroth sighed. Children were strange. But in some ways, they were like new recruits, full of misconceptions and bad ideas, and it was his job to fix that. He just had to be careful not to damage the children.

"Why am I just like the doctors?"

"You left us alone!"

"I had to. I have a job."

"_Real_ people wouldn't leave!"

Sephiroth shook his head, moved to the side of the bed, and grabbed at Kadaj. He almost missed, but caught Kadaj by one thin ankle and hoisted him up. Kadaj kicked and screamed and generally made a complete and utter terror of himself, even trying to jackknife up high enough to bite. Ignoring this, Sephiroth carried him into the bathroom and turned the water on in the bathtub. Still holding Kadaj out of the way of anything he could cling to, he addressed the screaming boy.

"I have ot leave you here because I took you from the labs without permission. If you are discovered before I can lay a legal claim on you, not only will you be taken away, but you and your brothers will be punished, as will I. And I promise you that it will be worse than any punishment they have inflicted on you before."

"How would _you_ know?"

"I tried to escape the labs once," Sephiroth hissed. "They peeled the skin off my legs and poured chemicals on them, then watched to see how I healed. Have they ever done that to _you_?"

"N-no."

"You should pray they never do. I wanted to die. You should appreciate that I'm trying to save you from people who do things like that."

"Everyone is like that."

"No, they aren't. There are many good, nice people in this world." The tub was full enough, so Sephiroth quickly stripped the wet clothes from Kadaj's body and plunked him down into the water. Kadaj shrieked and tried to scramble out, only to be caught and gently pushed back in. "No. You're a mess."

"There are no nice people! There's no such thing as nice!"

"Of course there are. I have friends who are very nice people."

"Then there's something wrong with them! Ow! Stoppit! It's too hot!"

Sephiroth ignored the screaming and picked up his shampoo bottle, squirting a little directly onto Kadaj's head and beginning to work it into the thick silver hair. "Two of them are engineered warriors like me. Two of them are Turks. One of them is a SOLDIER, but not like me yet."

"Turks don't exist," Kadaj spat, squirming.

"Yes, they do. There are quite a few of them in this building, and you will meet one or two if you stay with me. Close your eyes, or you'll get soap into them, and I won't be sorry for you if it stings."

"I hate you," Kadaj hissed, sinking into the water. He closed his eyes while Sephiroth sscrubbed.

"Fine. Hate me. But you'll have to hate me and stay here until you're old enough to be on your own."

"How long is that?"

"About twelve years."

"_Twelve years_? That's _forever_!"

"It's not that long."

"Yazoo isn't even _twelve_, and he's _old_."

"How old do you think I am?"

Kadaj stopped squirming, opening one eye and looking up at Sephiroth.

"Twelve?"

Sephiroth snorted.

"I'm twenty four, Kadaj. I told you last night."

"I thought you were lying."

"No. I'm twenty four. I'll be twenty five at my birthday next year."

"We don't have birthdays."

"Everyone has one."

"We don't."

"Neither did I, when I was little. They didn't want me to. But when I got older, I picked a day I liked and called that my birthday."

"You're not allowed to do that."

"Of course I am. I even know what month you and your brothers were born in."

"You _do_?"

"I do. It was in your files. Each of you can pick a day in your month and it will be your birthday. If you behave, we can celebrate."

"What does that mean?"

"It means have a party."

"What's a party?"

"It's a gathering of friends. You have good food and spend time with the people who are important to you. At birthday parties, everyone celebrates another year of your life, and you have cake and gifts."

"Cake?"

"Like a sweet bread."

"Gifts?"

"Objects that are given to you, to keep."

"We'd get gifts?"

"If you're good."

"And if we aren't good?"

"Then you might get one very small thing, and a small, plain cake."

"Even if we're bad?"

"You only get one birthday a year, Kadaj. I wouldn't take it away from you completely."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not cruel."

"You're mean."

Sephiroth soaped up a washcloth and made Kadaj stand so he could scrub him. "Being mean and being cruel are not the same thing."

"Yes they are."

"No. Being mean can be done with good intentions. I scold you and your brothers because I want you to understand the difference between right and wrong, so you know how you should act. Being cruel is doing bad things to people with the express purpose of hurting them."

"What if they deserve it?"

"You aren't old enough to decide something like that."

"When will I be old enough?"

"Not for another ten years or so."

"_Ten_ years?"

"I think so."

"But that's not _fair_!"

"Life is not fair. Close your eyes, I'm going to rinse you off." He pulled the shower attachment form the wall and switched it on directing the spray at Kadaj. Kadaj squirmed and tried to get away from it.

"I don't _like_ those."

"Hmm?"

"They used sprays on us before. They hurt."

He remembered those sprays. Sometimes they were just water, and other times there were chemicals in them, but they were always high-pressure and painful.

"This one won't hurt unless it's too hot. But I can get a plastic cup to rinse you off with next time."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you to not like being clean. You'll start to smell, and I don't want that, either. So I'll try to make it more comfortable for you. Once I know you'll do it, I'll even let you wash yourself."

"You'd do that?"

"I don't _enjoy_ hurting my knees and back bending over the bathtub and trying to get you clean, Kadaj."

"Well _I_ didn't know that. You're _weird_."

"Yes, I am. And you are clean." He hoisted Kadaj out of the tub and wrapped him in a towel before he could get away. "Now. Because you destroyed my living room-"

"And the office."

"_And_ my office, you will not be coming shopping with me and your brothers. You will stay here and behave. When we get back, we'll all have lunch, and you and Loz are going to clean as much of the mess as you can. If you're good, you can have your new clothes after that."

"And if I'm bad?"

"No new clothes, no dinner, and no sleeping in my bed."

"I hate you," Kadaj sulked, but he didn't try to get away when Sephiroth dried him, then carried him back into the bedroom and dressed him in a new shirt.

"You can hate me all you want, Kadaj. But you have to stay here anyway. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Kadaj grumbled.

"Good."

/

Sephiroth left Kadaj sitting on the couch, hands folded in his lap, looking unhappy but reasonably obedient. He left with Loz attached to one hand like a weight, Yazoo walking close to his other side, and four painkillers slowly starting to take effect.

Three hours later, Sephiroth returned to the apartment. Loz was clinging to his leg, wide-eyed and trembling. Yazoo held his hand. His other hand was occupied with several bags, and Yazoo carried a clear plastic bag from a deli Sephiroth liked in his free hand.

Kadaj had fallen asleep on the couch. He had not stayed there, though, as edvidenced by the untidy pile of torn curtain and shredded papers that had been made beside the coffee table. The broken glass and fallen flowers were similarly piled up beside the end table. Sephiroth sighed.

"Wake him up, Yazoo. I'm going to go put this down."

"Is he in trouble again?"

"He is _still_ in trouble, yes. And in more trouble because I told him to stay on the couch and he did not. Loz, please let go of my leg"

"No!"

"Now, please."

"NO!"

"Loz, let go of my leg or I will remove you myself."

Yazoo looked back at Loz.

"You should do what he says."

"But-"

"He's nicer when he's not mad at you."

Loz pouted and let go, sticking close to Sephiroth's side while Sephiroth took his shoes off and carried his bags into the kitchen.

A minute or two later, Kadaj could be heard arguing with Yazoo. Sephiroth leaned back into the living room in time to see Kadaj grab a handful of Yazoo's hair and yank on it. Yazoo yelped but, to Sephiroth's surprise, he did not fight back. He remained still, biting his lip while Kadaj continued to yank hard on the handful of silver hair.

"That's enough, Kadaj," Sephiroth said quietly.

Kadaj jumped and let go. Yazoo fled into the safety of the kitchen. Sephiroth moved past him and went to stand over the boy on the couch. Kadaj refused to meet his eyes.

"I told you to stay on the couch, Kadaj."

"But-"

"You said that you would."

"But I-"

"It oesn't matter that you tried to clean up the mess you made. You disobeyed me after promising to do that you were told."

"I thought-"

"The thought was appreciated, but I care more about you doing what I tell you to do. I can't trust you if you don't listen to me."

Kadaj whimpered. "I tried to _fix_ it," he mumbled. "So I can have a birthday."

Sephiroth resisted the urge to laugh. "I told you, you will have a birthday. How _good_ it is depends on how well you behave. When you do things after I tell you not to, you are behaving badly and your birthday won't be as nice. Do you understand that?"

"Um…"

"Being 'good' is what _I_ define as good. If I tell you to do something or not to do something, that's what you do, even if something else might seem like it's right to you."

"Why do you get to decide?"

"Because I am older than you, more experienced, and I know more than you do. DO you understand?"

"I _guess_."

"Good enough. We're going to eat lunch now. Then you and Loz are going to clean."

"Do I get clohes?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"But-"

"I'll think about it while we eat."

Sephiroth did think about it, in between passing out sandwiches and making sure no one got more than one cookie and the chips weren't crushed by a wayward elbow. In the end, Kadaj recived a single set of clothes after he finished cleaning, and was promised the rest if he behaved the following day. He left Yazoo in charge again and went to his office to do paperwork and look up childcare advice online.

/-

A last-minute sparring session with Genesis and Angeal at the end of the day left Sephiroth beyond sore, limping faintly on his way to collect pizzas from the delivery boy in the lobby and taking the elevator up to his quarters because he doubted his ability to make it up the stairs.

He might have to move. It had occurred to him over a report on the construction of new baraccks at the Junon base; he had no room for three children in his quarters, and it wasn't safe for them there. The moment it was determined that he was the one responsible for their disappearance, there would be MPs at his door, demanding the return of the children. He couldn't have that.

As a General, Sephiroth was allowed to live anywere within half an hour's drive from the base. Genesis and Angeal both had residences off base, maintaining a small shared living area in the same building as Sephiroth for days when returning home was impossible. Sephiroth had never felt a real need to leave, only the occasional desire, but now…now he needed to.

/-

There was no need for dinner. All three children were asleep on the couch together with the television set on a nature program. Sephiroth made a mental note to see about teaching them about the outside world, rearranged them to be more comfortable, covered them with several blankets, and left it at that. He bolted half a pizza, put the rest away, and fell asleep before he could take his uniform off.

Having children, he concluded somewhere between getting his boots off and his face hitting the pillow, was very tiring.


	3. In General

And here we have Sephiroth trying. Bless him, he really is trying. But every parent needs a little help, right?

Many, many thanks to underhandlilies for being my darling beta.

* * *

><p>Sephiroth woke early, finding himself miserably hot and uncomfortable. Blinking groggily, he found that the reason his vision was blurry was <em>not<em> because he had been drinking the night before but because there was a small body on his chest and the thick silver hair was hanging in his face.

It was Loz. Yazoo was settled to his right, and Kadaj was bundled up against his left hip. He was trapped. And he had no idea when or how the children had moved into his bed with him, which bothered him. If three small boys could sneak in and touch him without waking him, then anyone else could have gotten in and done worse.

Very slowly, he extricated himself from the pile of bodies and stumbled towards the bathroom, his only thought a long, hot shower. Perhaps a bath. Yes, a bath sounded good. With those bath salts Genesis had given him for sore muscles.

/-

He lazed in the bath for perhaps fifteen minutes before the door opened and Loz peeked in. His eyes grew very large as he saw Sephiroth, and he edged in further, approaching the tub carefully.

"What's _that_?"

"Mmmm?"

"Are you hurt?" Loz peered over the edge of the tub, apparently looking for injuries.

"No?"

"Why are you in there, then?"

"I'm relaxing."

"Like that? But…it smells funny. Isn't it like a healing tank or something?"

"I'm taking a _bath_, Loz."

"Huh?"

"This is hot water I'm soaking in."

"It _smells_, though."

"I put bath salts into it. That makes the water smell different."

"You're sitting in _salt_ water?"

"Not exactly."

"And you _like_ it?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I am very sore, and the heat and certain properties of the salts are helping me to feel better."

Loz looked at the tub again, then pulled his shirt over his head and started to scramble into the tub. Sephiroth caught him before more than his foot could touch the water and deposited him on the floor.

"You are not getting in here with me."

"But-" Loz's eyes started to look rather wet, and his lower lip began to tremble.

"There isn't really enough room in here for me, so there definitely isn't enough room for both of us," Sephiroth said quickly, desperate to avoid tears. "You can have a bath some other time. With bubbles or salts you'll like."

Loz looked interested. "Bubbles?"

"Yes. They make bath additives designed to fill the bath with bubbles. Would you like that?"

Loz nodded eagerly.

"We can get some when we go out next, then." Sephiroth shifted, trying to get more of himself under the water. "Go back to bed."

"Why? I'm awake now."

"Because we do not watch other people bathe, Loz. It's rude. You can go back to bed or you can go watch television, but you are not staying in here while I'm in the bath."

"Why not?"

"I'm naked. It's not acceptable to stare at naked adults." It felt strange to say that. Sephiroth had never cared about being seen in the nude, but he knew, largely from comments by friends and general social knowledge, that nudity, even in children, was generally frowned upon and that one did not stare at someone else's naked body unless medicine or intimacy was involved.

"Oh. Okay."

Sephiroth had to remind Loz to put his shirt back on before he left.

/-

Knowing one of the children was awake made it hard to enjoy the rest of his bath. Sephiroth tried, though, lying in the water and listening to the distant sound of the TV for a while before he gave up and crawled out of the tub, still a little stiff, and dressed himself.

Yazoo was still sleeping in the bed, cuddling a pillow in lieu of the bodies he'd been snuggled up with before. Kadaj was gone.

Thankfully, Kadaj was located in the living room, triumphantly sitting on the back of the couch with the remote in his hands. Loz sat at the other end- and actually on the couch cushions- looking upset.

"Morning," Sephiroth yawned, noting that the TV was set to a show about demolition, which seemed to hold no interest for Loz.

Neither boy responded. Sephiroth sighed. He didn't have the energy to explain that it was a greeting.

"Kadaj?"

"What?"

"Did you take the remote away from Loz?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"He was watching something stupid."

"It was _not_ stupid!" Loz whimpered. "It had _animals_."

"Animals are stupid."

"Kadaj give him the remote. Animals are not stupid."

"They _are_!"

"We cannot live without them."

"We can too!"

Sephiroth sighed and headed into the kitchen, not at all surprised when Kadaj hopped off the couch and followed him. It didn't matter- Loz had the remote and was already watching some program about turtles.

"Since when do we need _animals_?" Kadaj asked, standing too close to Sephiroth's legs while he tried to get coffee started without stepping on small feet.

"We always have."

"_I_ never have."

"You had eggs, bacon, cheese, milk, turkey, and ham yesterday."

"So?"

"Those all come from animals. Bacon, turkey, and ham are the flesh of animals. Eggs are what chickens and chocobo and all kinds of other birds are born from. Cheese is made from milk, which comes out of cows and all other mammals."

Kadaj's eyes suddenly became very, very wide. He looked up at Sephiroth, saying nothing. Sephiroth took the chance to finish filling the reservoir in the coffee maker and to get it started, then stepped carefully away and fetched himself a breakfast bar.

Finally, Kadaj managed to collect his thoughts. "We _eat_ them?"

"Yes. Most of them are bred and kept for the purpose of being eaten or producing things we eat."

"Can we eat people too?"

Sephiroth paused, staring down at Kadaj, who looked more interested than concerned. "Er…no."

"Why not? People are like animals. They have meat and blood too."

"We do not eat people. That's called cannibalism, and it's _wrong_. You can be killed for it, or in the very least severely punished."

Kadaj frowned. "Why not? They're just like-"

"Humans are animals, Kadaj, but they are the same. They are the dominant species in most parts of the world, and they have the ability to reason and understand morals. It has been decided that eating them is unacceptable."

"But _we_ aren't-"

"We are human enough."

"But-"

"No. And if I catch you trying to eat one of your brothers or anyone I bring here, you will be in trouble."

Kadaj stuck his tongue out at Sephiroth. "Why do you tell us about interesting things but not let us do any of them?"

"Because you need to learn. Are you hungry?"

"No."

"Mmm. Well, if you don't eat when I make meals, you won't be getting anything nice."

"That's mean."

"No, it's fair. I'm not your nursemaid. Try to behave this morning- there are people coming over."

Kadaj stared up at him, eyes darkening strangely. He reached out and hugged Sephiroth's leg, all but clinging to him. "_People_?"

"Yes, friends of mine." He attempted to peel Kadaj off with one hand and didn't get very far. Shoving his breakfast bar into his mouth, he tried again with both hands. That attempt ended with Kadaj clinging to his arms instead, a heavy bundle of trembling five year-old. "You're…you're shaking. What is it?"

There was a knock at the door, and Kadaj flinched. Sephiroth blinked, then realized; the arrival of new people in the labs meant new tests, new ideas, and new pain. Always.

"They aren't here to hurt you. They don't even know that you're here."

"But-"

"I told them I needed to speak to them about something concerning my need to move off the base, Kadaj. Nothing more."

"Why do you need to move?"

"There isn't room for me and you and your brothers in this little apartment."

"But we-"

"I need more room. And you three shouldn't have to sleep in the same bed or on the couch because there's nowhere else to put you. Now calm down. I need to answer the door."

Even with those reassurances, Kadaj was hanging off Sephiroth's arm- literally, his small feet several inches off the floor- when Sephiroth answered the door.

Angeal and Genesis stood outside. Genesis was inside in a moment, kneeling at Sephiroth's feet and reaching for Kadaj.

"_Sephiroth_, you _dog_, how could you not _tell_ us you had children. He looks just like you! What's his name? Come here, you little angel, let uncle Genesis get a good look at you."

Kadaj shrieked like a banshee, struck twice, and shot away towards the bedroom, still screaming. The noise was cut off by the slam of a door and Sephiroth sighed, surveying the damage: Kadaj, missing and spooked; Genesis, lying in a fetal position on the floor with a bloody nose and both hands clutching at his groin; Angeal, desperately trying to muffle his laughter in one hand and sliding down the door frame.

"Sephiroth?" asked a small voice. Loz peered around the corner. "Kadaj was screaming."

"Genesis startled him. Come say hello to my friends."

"You have friends?"

"I do. Come on."

Loz shuffled closer and looked at Angeal shyly around Sephiroth's leg. "Hi," he mumbled into his older bother's pants. "I'm Loz."

"They can't be your kids," Angeal murmured, crouching to get a better look at Loz. He did not try to touch him, for which Sephiroth was grateful. "You've got to be…seven? Eight?"

"He's about seven. Kadaj is five or so. And Yazoo is nine. I believe their births were spaced that way on purpose." Sephiroth gently pried Loz off his pants and moved him so he stood in the light, hands clasped nervously, eyeing Angeal with an unreadable expression. "They are my brothers. Or so we have decided to call ourselves. This is Angeal, Loz. And the one on the floor is Genesis."

"You…you smell like we do," Loz said softly. "Not like the scientists."

"Angeal and Genesis are like me," Sephiroth explained. "We are all Alpha grade First Class SOLDIERs. The only ones in the world."

"So you're special."

"We're very special," Angeal chuckled. "They haven't been able to make more like us. But you look like you might be, eventually."

"_I _could be like _you_?" Loz moved forward, reaching up to pat curiously at Angeal's face. He looked back at Sephiroth, grinning. "I want hair like this! In front of my ears!" he announced, petting Angeal's sideburns. "Do I get to be this big, too?"

"They're called sideburns," Angeal murmured. "Let me see your hands and feet."

"Not _this_ again, Angeal. He's a boy, not a puppy."

"The principle is the same." Angeal spread Loz's hand in his palm. "You have big hands for someone your age. Big feet, too."

"Is that bad?"

"Some people say that you'll…grow into them."

"REALLY?" Loz did a little stomping dance of joy and flung himself at Sephiroth's knees, hugging them tightly. "Will I really get a big as him?"

"I'm even taller than he is. And you were designed for muscle, according to your files. So yes, Loz, I expect you will be very much like him when you get older."

Loz screeched happily and exited the entry at high speed, tearing into the back of the apartment calling for Yazoo.

When Loz had gone, Sephiroth sighed and helped peel Genesis off the floor. "You deserved that," he pointed out.

"He is _definitely _yours," Genesis growled. He was forced to let go of his crotch in order to pinch his nose and tip his head back, but the way he moved suggested he would be holding himself again the moment he could.

"I've never done that to you."

"The day we met, you broke my arm. Same thing."

"He's _five_, Genesis," Angeal sighed. He produced a handkerchief from somewhere and began wiping the blood from Genesis' face. "Where did they come from, Seph?"

"I removed them from the labs the night before last."

"You did _what_?"

"I-"

"Sephiroth, Kadaj is crying under your bed," Yazoo announced, shuffling around the corner in another pair of Sephiroth's socks. He blinked at the visitors, then looked up at Sephiroth. "Are they here to take us away again?"

"No. They're here to help me find out how best to keep you away from the people in the labs. But Genesis went and scared Kadaj. Did he wake you up?"

"Yes."

"Go back to bed if you want. Or watch the TV- Loz left it unattended."

"Loz is on the bed. He said something about being big."

"He wants to look like Angeal when he gets older."

Yazoo looked at Angeal, then back at Sephiroth. "Why? Isn't it hard to get into places when you're that big?"

"Yes, but there are advantages to it when size and strength are more necessary than speed and agility. And even then, Angeal is quite fast and he's quite agile when he wants to be. Yazoo, this is Genesis, and the big one is Angeal. This is Yazoo, the eldest."

Genesis looked ready to say something, possibly something that would get him hit again, when Loz came tearing back into the entry, still yelling, but this time about the scratches that stretched from his right eyebrow, down over the bridge of his nose, and ended over off the left side of his jaw.

"KADAJ HIT ME!" he bellowed, and tried to fling himself at Sephiroth again. Sephiroth dodged, caught him, and handed him to Angeal, who promptly found himself with a large seven year old hanging around his neck and bleeding on his shirt.

"Hold him. I'll go deal with Kadaj."

"But what should I-" No good. Sephiroth was gone.

Yazoo blinked at Genesis. "Why are you smaller than the others? Are you defective?"

In the bedroom, Sephiroth had to lie on the floor and peer under his bed to locate the missing boy. Kadaj was pushed back into the corner against the wall, eyes large and glowing softly in the shadows there.

"I'm sorry Genesis scared you. But you shouldn't have hit him, and you definitely shouldn't have hit Loz."

"Loz is loud."

"I know. But that's not a reason to hit him."

"I hate him."

"I sincerely doubt that. Come on out, you have to properly meet those men in the hall, and you need to apologize to Loz."

"I don't wanna!"

"And I don't care. You will do as you are told or you will be punished. Is that clear?"

"I _hate_ you!"

"Go ahead. But get out here."

Kadaj didn't. Sephiroth sighed, reached out, and snagged Kadaj's ankle. In a matter of moments he was striding back towards the hall with a squirming, squalling five year-old hanging upside down from his hand.

"Putmedownputmedownputme_down_!"

"This is Kadaj," Sephiroth said placidly. "The five year-old. Are you going to say you're sorry to Loz?"

"_NO_!"

"Mmm. As you like. We'll talk about this once Angeal and Genesis have gone. And you _will_ say you're sorry to Genesis." He held Kadaj up high enough to be able to look Genesis more or less in the general vicinity of his face. "Go on."

Kadaj growled, a thin, kittenish sound. Sephiroth bounced him lightly.

"You can't _do_ that," Angeal interrupted. "Put him down."

"Not until he apologizes. _Kadaj_…"

"I'm sorry I hit you," Kadaj grumbled. "But you shouldn't _grab_ me. I don't _like_ you."

Sephiroth snorted and swung Kadaj towards Genesis, who caught him.

"Keep him off the floor. I need to finish breakfast and he's being a terror."

Kadaj yelled and screamed and flailed, and Genesis, grinning, kept a good hold on him. Sephiroth smirked, knowing that giving the insufferable child with the most stubborn man he knew would keep both of them out of trouble while he cooked.

Still carrying Loz- who had calmed down and was just happily clinging to him- Angeal followed Sephiroth. Genesis remained in the hallway, holding Kadaj out at arms'-length and quoting Loveless at him.

/-

"Loz go watch TV with Yazoo. I need to talk to Angeal privately."

"But-"

"You may hang on him when I'm finished."

Loz looked at Angeal, pouting, then sighed and shuffled off to the living room. Sephiroth sighed and pulled nervously at his hair.

"I have _no_ idea what I'm doing."

"You should have thought about that before you stole three experiments from the labs," Angeal muttered. "Sephiroth, do you have _any idea_-"

"They made imperfect _clones_ of me," Sephiroth growled. "They are my _family_. And they were treated worse than I ever was."

"Yes, I understand that. But you're going to catch hell when they figure this out. I had an MP in asking if I'd heard anything about the break-in, but I didn't think…"

"Help me. Please."

"With _what_?"

"I need to move. I can't keep them here."

Angeal started to laugh, loud and hard and a little hysterically. Sephiroth waited rather impatiently until he'd calmed down before fixing him with a hard look.

"You're worried about _moving_? Sephiroth, these aren't pets, you have a lot more to worry about than having the space for them. They're just kids…they need clothes and education and toys and health care and…I've seen you on your own. How have you managed to keep from killing them before this morning?"

"I honestly have no idea. Thinking of them as some of the very young cadets helps."

"_Cadets_? The oldest one is _nine_!"

"I'm almost ten!" Yazoo shouted from the living room.

This sent Angeal into another fit of hysterical laughter and ended with him on the floor, slumped against the cabinets, flushed and grinning.

"I like that one. He reminds me of you."

"They should all remind you of me- they were created with some of my genetic material."

"Mmhm. Seriously, Sephiroth, it might be safer to return them and try to force whoever's in charge of their project to ease their procedural standards and to allow them yard time. You don't know how much work kids take."

"And you do?"

"I babysat before I left Banora, and I've done some time in the daycare downstairs. Trust me, they're a lot of work. Especially kids under eight, which you have two of."

"I can handle it."

Angeal sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright, look. I can help you somewhat, but I can't make any promises and I don't know what Genesis can do. Your best option is to rally everyone you trust. This is going to take a lot of people and a lot of secrecy."

"I have their files," Sephiroth said quietly.

"You stole _those _too?"

"I needed to know."

"You're going to catch hell for that. But technically, they're your kids-"

"Brothers."

"They contain _your_ DNA. That makes them your children, not your brothers."

"But-"

"No buts. They're your kids. ShinRa hasn't legally taken custody of them, so you might be able to call what they've done kidnapping and force them to give you custody. And if you're lucky, the project won't have any other departments behind it…find out if Lazard knows anything about this. If the Science Department did this without outside permission you can nail them separately, which might be easier. And faster."

Sephiroth nodded. "But for now?"

"Right now? You need to get them things to keep them occupied and start looking into getting them checked out by a doctor and finding them tutor or something. Get them evaluated so you can determine what their education has covered so far. And house hunt."

Sephiroth leaned heavily against the counter, somewhat overwhelmed. Angeal was right. There was far too much involved in the care of a child, and he had _three_ of them. But…he refused to return them. He just needed help, and as much as he tended to hate asking for it, he had read a quote once that said it took a whole village to raise a child. He didn't have a village, but he had a motley collection of SOLDIERs, Turks, and several executives he trusted enough to help him work the mess out. He would manage. And first things first…

"I have a board meeting at two thirty this afternoon, but I'm not sure I should be leaving them…when I left them yesterday morning I came home to disaster."

"What were you expecting? Peace and quiet?"

"Yes?"

"They probably got bored." Angeal sighed. "I guess I might be able to watch them…getting them up to my office is probably impossible…I'll bring my paperwork in here and try to do some of it while I'm here."

"_Thank you_."

"Uh-huh. You're going to _owe_ me for this."


	4. Expanding the Flock

This is a little late...okay, maybe a lot late, but I was struggling with the last 500 words. There will be more. I'm finally settling into a kind of rhythm with this new home and new job thing, so there's more time for writing now. I have plans, people...good ones.

Thanks for sticking it out with me.

* * *

><p>Sephiroth managed to get three children fed, coffee made for himself and Angeal, tea for Genesis, more tea when Loz wanted to know what it was, and cleaned up when Kadaj hit him in the face with a spoonful of eggs- the rest of which Kadaj had managed to spill on himself.<p>

Angeal and Genesis left while Sephiroth bathed Kadaj again, mostly tuning out the boy's hollering in favor of an inner mantra of 'children are not soldiers, children are not soldiers, children are not soldiers so I can't make them do pushups'.

It was his morning off. He slouched on the couch, tired despite the fact that he had been awake for less than three hours, and watched the kids watch television. He maintained this position until lunchtime, when he stuffed all three boys with tuna sandwiches and dressed for work, then almost ran out the door when Angeal arrived.

The meeting was longer than he'd expected. Yawning, he drank cup after cup of coffee in an effort to stay awake and was still nodding off near the end. He stopped by the corner Rufus was sitting in, talked to him briefly, and went to his office.

Paperwork. Piles of paperwork he'd been putting off. He collected everything he could find and a few extra pens, boxed it all, and reluctantly headed back to his quarters.

When Sephiroth returned, he found Angeal sitting on the couch with a clipboard propped up against his knee, quietly scribbling away at something. Loz sat on the couch beside him, holding a coffee cup in both hands and watching a history program with wide eyes. Yazoo lay on the floor at Angeal's feet, paging through the fourth volume in the Wutain set he'd been working on.

And Kadaj was standing in the corner on the other side of the television, face to the wall, shoulders tense, with a dark cloud of fury hovering over him.

"That took longer than expected. Suits wouldn't stop talking?" Angeal asked casually, not looking up from his paperwork.

"They're planning some new construction and a new program at Junon. So no, they wouldn't stop talking."

"Ech. Figures."

Sephiroth waited for an explanation for Kadaj's behavior, didn't get one, and sighed, turning away to head for the kitchen in search of coffee that had more of a kick to it. It was an espresso afternoon.

Angeal followed him, going to lean against the counter and stretch while Sephiroth searched for the beans he kept for espresso.

"Top shelf," Angeal murmured. "Loz was trying to eat them."

"They're not poisonous."

"No, but not only is feeding coffee to kids his age a bad idea, I didn't want to know what would happen if he decided he didn't like it. I was just fooling around and left him punch my palms…he's disturbingly strong for a seven year old."

Sephiroth located the jar of beans and measured some into his coffee grinder. "He was made with my DNA, Angeal. What did you expect?"

"Nothing _that_ powerful."

"I was at least that strong at that age. It's to be expected."

"If you say so. Genesis and I didn't start showing signs of extra ability until almost ten years old. I'm told it drove the scientists mad, thinking they'd failed utterly."

Sephiroth nodded faintly as he ground the beans, got the filter settled, and pulled a shot. Dump, rinse, fill, pack, and repeat.

"Do you want some?"

"Hmm? Oh, sure. Just one, though. How many are you…um….Seph? How many shots are you planning on _having_?"

"Six," Sephiroth said firmly. "Two by themselves with a little sugar, and four in a drink with a _lot_ of sugar." He pulled another shot and added it to the tumbler he was collecting them in. "Why is Kadaj standing in the corner? Is something wrong with him?"

"He's having a time out."

"A what?"

"A time out."

"I heard you the first time. What's a time out?"

"You never had a time out as a kid?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Sephiroth pulled the last shot and looked over at Angeal expectantly, handing him a tiny cup with his shot in it. "What is it?"

"It's when a child has to sit or stand or whatever and do absolutely nothing for an allotted length of time."

"What good does that do?"

"It's a punishment. Punishment is really your job, so I went with something relatively simple and non-invasive. It worked pretty well on me when my father wasn't home." Angeal sipped carefully at the coffee. "Mmph, this is strong. Did you sleep at _all_ last night?"

"Not really." Sephiroth tossed back his two shots as if they were something nasty he had to drink, then dug milk and caramel out of his fridge. "What do you mean by non-invasive? How else were you punished?"

"I was spanked. And given the belt, when I was older."

Sephiroth frowned. "But…you and Genesis have told me that hitting children is wrong, so why would being struck for punishment be acceptable?"

"There's a fine line between physical punishment and physical abuse, and a lot of ways to differentiate between them. One of the most obvious is whether or not you're leaving a mark. If you give a kid a spanking and you leave bruises, you were hitting them _way_ too hard and that's abuse. If you give them a spanking and they're sore for a little but then they're fine, that's punishment. Another way is whether or not there's a good reason. If, say, Zack was seven years old and he was fighting with another kid over a toy, and he started hitting the other kid, that's bad and a spanking or something similar would be alright. If he wasn't feeling well and he was crying and whining for attention, spanking him to make him be quiet would be abuse."

"But…" Sephiroth stirred caramel sauce into a glass of milk, poking thoughtfully at an ice cube. "How does it do anything? Just being struck isn't a form of teaching or anything."

"It teaches kids to associate wrong-doing with discomfort. That's what all punishment is for, regardless of the age, really. If you do something wrong, you have something taken away or some form of pain dished out, and you come to understand that if you don't do that, you won't be hurt or your things won't be taken away. In kids, it also teaches them to respect you and what you have to say to them, because you're the one who decides whether they get a spanking or not. Weren't you ever punished when you were young?"

"Medically, yes. But I was also punished simply for existing, as my physical endurance and healing factors needed constant testing, so it was difficult to tell when I was being punished for actual infractions or not." Sephiroth sampled his drink, then looked at Angeal with a worried expression. "If I punish them, won't they hate me?"

"Children are quick to hate, and even quicker to forgive," Angeal said gently. "You can't punish them for every little thing, or they _will_ hold a grudge, but the occasional punishment shouldn't cause anything drastic."

"Oh. It's…it's better for them if I do it, isn't it?"

"I think so. But everyone parents differently. You have to figure out what works for you."

"Okay. When can I let Kadaj out of the corner?"

"The timer's set for another five minutes or so."

"What did he do?"

"What _didn't_ he do would be a better question. I put him there because he was threatening to tear up the books Yazoo is reading, and he was hitting Loz. He didn't stop when I told him to, so I put him in the corner with the threat of a sound spanking if he moved, and he stayed put. After Yazoo told him what a spanking was."

"How did Yazoo know?"

"I haven't the faintest clue."

Sephiroth sat on the couch doing paperwork and watched Kadaj stand still for five more minutes. When the buzzer went off, the boy turned around and fixed Angeal with a nasty look.

"I _hate_ you," he announced. "You're _cruel_."

"I doubt you know what either of those words means," Angeal said coolly, not looking up.

"Cruel means doing mean things to people without any reason," Kadaj snapped. "Sephiroth told me so."

"Then I'm not cruel. I made you stand in the corner for your own good. _I_ certainly didn't get any pleasure out of it."

"Liar. You-"

"He did what he needed to do, Kadaj," Sephiroth murmured. "I hear you were making yourself into quite the little terror while I was gone."

"But-"

"You should behave yourself even when I'm not here. You will be seeing a lot more of Angeal and Genesis. And other people as well. You need to learn to deal with it. This is my home, and I expect you to be reasonable." He looked at Kadaj. "I'm not telling you to like the people I know, nor to be nice to them. But you have to tolerate their presence and not be a pain, or there will be punishment."

"I hate him."

"Go ahead. But don't be a brat when he's here."

"What's a brat?"

"A brat is a spoiled, annoying, impolite child," Yazoo said smugly, looking up from his book. "It's not a nice word. But _you_ deserve it."

Sephiroth gaped at Yazoo for a minute. "Where did you learn that?"

"You have a dictionary. I looked up some of the things Genesis said after he left. I couldn't remember all of them, but I found definitions for bitch, and fuck, and brat, and-"

"Next time he swears, don't listen."

"Why not?"

"Swearing is usually bad. And not something you do in front of other people."

"Why?"

"Because it's rude. All those words have mean or unpleasant connotations when they're strung together like that."

"Oh. I was wondering. Some of them didn't make any sense. And I couldn't find motherfucker. What does that mean?"

Sephiroth winced. "It means you aren't touching the dictionary without asking me for awhile."

"But-"

"No."

Yazoo scowled and returned his attention to his book. Angeal attempted to smother a snicker.

"I'm not a brat!" Kadaj hollered, having apparently taken the brief interlude to decide just how offended he needed to be.

Angeal dissolved into hysterical snickering and had to excuse himself to the kitchen to laugh himself sick.

Sephiroth closed his eyes and wished for simpler times.

Angeal left after he'd managed to get his laughter under control, and Sephiroth was faced with three young boys and no idea what he was doing for dinner. He was fairly sure he shouldn't be feeding them takeout every night, but he wasn't sure what he _could_ feed them.

"I'm hungry," Loz announced, furthering Sephiroth's worries.

"What do you want?"

"I dunno. You give us stuff that we never had before. What can I have?"

"Um…come with me."

Sephiroth got up and headed to the kitchen. Loz followed…so did Yazoo and Kadaj.

Out of the three, Yazoo was the only one who had started forming an opinion of food. He never asked for anything specific, but he rejected things based on dictionary definitions or what he'd read or seen on television, and if _he_ decided he didn't want something, the odds were good that Loz and Kadaj would do the same thing, though Kadaj tried pickles just to spite Yazoo, discovered he hated them, and started to throw a tantrum that Sephiroth managed to silence with hot chocolate and marshmallows for all. He still didn't know what to provide for dinner.

Five o'clock rolled around. All three boys were hungry- again in the case of Loz and Yazoo, still in the case of Kadaj, who had only had a few sips of his cocoa before declaring it too hot and ignoring it.

Sephiroth didn't know what to do. More tuna? Stuff them with whatever they would eat and call that acceptable?

The doorbell rang. Leaving the boys on the couch bickering over TV channels, Sephiroth hurried to the door.

Zack and Reno stood outside. Zack had several heavy-looking grocery bags in his hands. Reno looked pleased with himself.

"What's for dinner, General?" he purred.

"I have _no_ idea."

"That's what I thought. So we brought a solution. Where are the little rug rats?"

"Are you allowed to call them that?" Sephiroth stepped aside to allow the two men in, holding bags as Zack wrestled his boots off.

"Why not? It's not a bad thing- it's a little young for them, though. Genesis said the little one is...what, six or something?"

"Five, actually. Five, seven, and nine going on sixteen."

"Oooooh, ya got yourself one of _those_. Good luck with him." Reno took Zack's bags and headed for the kitchen, ignoring the living room and its inhabitants. Zack started to follow, but got sidetracked by the sight of three silver-haired boys watching a program that centered on a lot of explosions.

"Ah…wow…jeez, Seph, you said they were yours, but…I didn't expect them to look _that_ much like you," he breathed.

Yazoo was the first to look up, but Loz was the first to get off the couch and run over, standing on Sephiroth's feet and staring up at Zack with large eyes.

"You're just like _Angeal_," he said reverently.

"I…am? Sure, I guess I am. He's my teacher. Who are you?"

"I'm Loz. Angeal said I can be like him when I get bigger. Who are you?"

"I'm Zack Fair. A friend of Sephiroth's."

Loz leaned back and looked straight up at Sephiroth. "You have so many friends!"

"You've only met three, plus Reno."

"Three is a lot. I have three brothers now, and that's a lot of brothers, so three friends is a lot of friends." Loz redirected his attention to the bag in Zack's hand. "What's that?"

"It's part of your dinner."

"So it's food?"

"Lots of food, yeah."

"What kind? Can I see?"

"Uh…Hey, Reno, d'you mind if I bring one of the kids in the watch us cook?"

"Just one. And make sure he/she/it behaves, okay?"

"Guess you can come in. C'mon, kiddo."

Loz went eagerly, and Sephiroth returned to his slumped position on the couch, relieved and a little concerned that Loz might do something stupid.

Yazoo scooted over beside Sephiroth and looked up at him. "Why do you have so many friends?"

"Hmm?"

"You keep bringing people. Why are there so many?"

"There aren't."

"That's four already. That's a lot of people to like you. Why?"

Sephiroth shrugged. "Angeal and Genesis came together- they grew up together, so when I made friends with one, I got both of them. Zack is Angeal's student, so…I didn't really have a say in him. Reno and I…I don't know. We have some very strange things in common. And there are a few others, that you'll meet tonight."

"Why tonight?"

"Because not only are these people my friends, they all hold a reasonable amount of clout within the company. They can help me make sure you and Loz and Kadaj are safe and protected from the people in the labs. They're going to help us find a new home, and since most of them have more experience with children than I do, they're going to help me learn how to take care of all of you."

"So…we can trust them?"

"That's up to you. But I trust them with my life. They've done a lot for me, and I need them…more than I can understand, sometimes. If nothing else, I think you'll be interested in them. You'll like Lazard, and maybe Reeve. They always want to know more…always learning. Reeve's never far fro a book unless he's building something."

Yazoo nodded gravely. "Okay. What are they making in the kitchen?"

"I honestly have no idea. Reno's a good cook, but not at all predictable. It will be good, though, whatever it is."

"Can I watch?"

"You can ask Reno."

"But I don't know Reno."

"You will in a minute. Come on."

Sephiroth heaved himself off the sofa and led Yazoo into the kitchen, where Loz was sitting on the counter eating a carrot and watching Reno intently. Reno was busily turning a small mountain of vegetables into a slightly smaller mountain of chopped veggies, separated out in Sephiroth's ice cream bowls. The knife in his hand, one of several santoku Sephiroth had, was almost a blur, stilling only while Reno fetched the next vegetable.

"And _that's_ Yazoo," Loz said, pointing at Yazoo with the end of his carrot.

Reno put the knife down and turned to look at Yazoo. "Wow. You look just like Seph does in the morning."

"Only in the morning?"

"Yeah, before he remembers he's supposed to be the great General and he puts on his mask. You probably haven't seen it yet, if you're only seein' him at home."

"You wear a mask?" Yazoo asked, looked up at Sephiroth. "I haven't seen you put one on."

"It's a phrase," Sephiroth explained. "It means I keep my face in a certain expression, or a certain set of expressions, which I'm at work."

"Oh." Yazoo looked back at Reno. "Is it a good thing that I look like him?"

"I think so. He's pretty cute when he's not coming at you with a sword. Ya wanna piece?"

Yazoo inspected the countertop and the bowls full of veggies. He settled on a bowl full of thickly sliced mushrooms. "Can I try that?"

"Sure." Reno offered the bowl, letting Yazoo take two slices, then stood back, watching as he nibbled the edge of one.

"It squeaks against my teeth. Is that…is that bad?"

"It's supposed to do that. It means that the flesh is fresh and healthy." Reno popped a slice into his mouth. "Don't trust a squashy mushroom. If you're lucky, it'll just be waterlogged."

"And if I'm not lucky?"

"Then it'll probably be diseased and it'll make you sick. Want something else?"

Yazoo wound up sitting on the other side of the sink, picking his way curiously through a bowl of vegetables, asking question after question while Reno tossed hot oil and veggies in the largest of Sephiroth's wok collection.

Safe, Sephiroth returned to the living room, where Kadaj attached himself to one ankle and stayed there, scowling a hole through his pants.

"Something wrong?"

"Why do _they_ get to go in?"

"They asked. Do you want to watch?"

"_NO_. Cooking is _stupid_."

"Is everything you don't like or understand stupid?"

"_Yes_."

Sephiroth sighed and lifted Kadaj onto the couch. "You need to behave yourself, or Reno isn't going to want to feed you."

"He has to. You said we'd have food."

"I could make you toast with peanut butter."

"But…"

"Reno doesn't have to do anything for you. And he doesn't like children who misbehave. Or who aren't happy to eat what they're given."

"But I don't like the way it smells!"

"You're just smelling hot oil and vegetables. There will be meat, and sauce as well. It should be good."

Kadaj started up at him. "You don't _know_?"

"How would I? I'm not cooking."

"But it could be BAD!"

"But it won't be."

"How do you know?"

"I trust Reno. And I like his cooking."

"I don't want any."

"Suit yourself."

Kadaj ate peanut butter toast for dinner, sulking furiously while Loz and Yazoo plowed through heaping bowls of rice and stir-fry, laughing nervously while they tried to learn to use chopsticks with the kind of skill Reno managed them with. Sephiroth sat at the end of the table, watching his little brothers/sons/relatives of some sort and worrying busily, eating only because Zack kept kicking him under the table.

Reno promised something interesting for dessert, but only when everyone else had arrived, so the boys filed back into the living room for more television, arguing over what to watch until Zack plopped himself down in the middle of them and took the remote, flipping to an animated show about fighting magical crime. In less than five minutes, he had Loz in his lap and the other two boys leaning against his sides, and all four of them were quiet.

Sephiroth leaned heavily against the wall in the kitchen and watched Reno wash dishes, taking a few things to dry when Reno handed them to him.

"You're gonna be okay," Reno said softly. "This'll blow over and the kids'll adjust. Don't work yourself into a tizzy, Seph."

"I can't _help_ it. They're…they're so small, and fragile, and innocent, and I don't know what to _do_ with them!"

"You take it day by day," Reno murmured, handing over another pan. "You can't do it any other way. Every day is gonna be different until you four find a routine that works for you. Every time they learn something new, you're gonna have to learn about it and what it means for you and for them. When they want to try things, you have to decide if they can. When they get hurt, you have to make them feel better. It's a lot of responsibility."

"You know a lot about children, don't you?"

"I've been taking care f kids since I was thirteen and responsible enough to be left with other people's kids. So yeah, I have a lot of experience, but it's pretty much the same now as it was- nothing can catch you off guard like a kid, Seph. Trust me. You can never predict exactly what they'll do."

"But-"

"Just roll with it. 's all you can do."

Angeal arrived soon, followed by Genesis. They carried a bag each, which they gave to Sephiroth with the explanation that kids _needed_ things. Then came Rufus, with Lazard right behind him.

"Boys! Come out here for a minute! We have new guests!"

Three small faces peered around the corner. Zack leaned over them, grinning when he saw who it was.

Rufus smiled. "Hello, boys."

All at once, the trio rushed the hallway. In the background, Genesis covered himself, but the boys weren't moving towards him. They headed for Rufus first, standing clustered before him and staring up at him, and then moving over to do the same for Lazard.

"Er…Sephiroth? What are they doing?"

Reno padded around the corner from the hall, holding paperwork in his hands. "They're conditioned to trust and obey Shinras. To make sure they'd be soldiers obeying their master and no one else." He looked at Lazard and Rufus, smiling sheepishly. "Secret's out, I guess."

"_Secret_?" Rufus turned, realizing that the boys were now looking between him and Lazard, clearly trying to choose between them. _"Lazard_?"

"I had to swear," Lazard said quietly. "There were…threats. Now that you're aware, however…yes, little brother?"

Gasping, Rufus sat down against the wall, and Yazoo broke away from his brothers to stand at Rufus' side, patting his face curiously.

"You don't look well. What happened?"

"He was an only child until just now," Sephiroth explained. "He didn't know that Lazard was his brother."

"And you _did_?" Rufus demanded weakly.

"You smell similar. And there are many other similarities. It wasn't hard to figure out."

"And no one _told_ me?"

"Frankly, no one knew how you'd respond to it." Reno crouched in front of him and smiled. "And with Laz's life on the line if he told you, we just let it sit. Figured you'd find out when your old man kicked the bucket."

"Brother?" Loz whispered. "Do we _have_ to do what they say?"

Sephiroth sighed. "No, Loz. You do not. But listening and respecting them is a must."

"Why?" Yazoo demanded. "They're not like us. They're not even like Angeal, and they aren't quite like Reno."

"Because their father owns and runs this company. Rufus is second in command beneath him, and Lazard runs the department that Angeal and Genesis and Zack and I all belong to. They are very powerful men, Yazoo, and you don't want to make them angry."

"But they aren't _strong_."

"Actually, Lazard boxes," Reno murmured, fanning Rufus with his paperwork. "And he can beat me in a fair fight."

"Though not in an unfair one," Lazard said ruefully. "I'm horrible at fighting dirty."

"He throws knives as well. Got good aim for a guy in glasses. You doin' alright, Rufus?"

Rufus made a squeaky sound, prompting Yazoo to bend down and inspect his mouth.

"Are you _supposed_ to make that noise?"

"No, he's not," Sephiroth sighed. He waded into the crowd and gently lifted Rufus, carrying him into the living room and settling him in the armchair. "Sit. Breathe. Try and calm down. It's alright."

"Says _you_!"

"You should be happy to know that not all of your immediate family is made up of slime, scum, backstabbers, and truly evil people," Sephiroth said calmly. "You've an older sibling who has the respect of the most powerful fighting force on the Planet, and he happens to be quite fond of you despite the fact that he has to answer to you."

"We've known each other for _years_ and I never…never…"

"My mother would have been killed," Lazard said simply. "The house I grew up in razed to the ground. Any friends I might have killed off as well. All if I whispered so much as a hint to you."

"That _bastard_."

"Big Brother? What's a bastard?"

Lazard snorted. "It's a word you shouldn't know, little one."

"But I've already heard it," Yazoo informed him. "So I want to know what it is."

"It means two things, Yazoo," Sephiroth said, voice heavy with resignation. "When you're using it as a bad word, it means that the person you're calling a bastard had a mother who was…unfaithful, so that your father is not the man she's married to. It's an insult. Technically, however, a bastard is any child born between parents who aren't married to one another. It's still not considered a good thing to be."

"Oh. Was Rufus' father's father not married to his mother, then?"

"He was. The implication is an insult, even if it's not true."

"Oh. Swearing is weird."

"Yes, it is."

Lazard slipped further into the living room and perched on one arm of the couch, watching as Rufus slowly calmed and gained some of his color back.

"We can talk later," he said softly.

Rufus nodded. "Soon."

"As soon as possible."

Tseng arrived last, bringing with him a large rolled up thing and a duffle bag stuffed with something soft.

"To solve your sleeping problems," he explained, handing the roll and duffle over. "Where are your little ones?"

"In the living room, watching television with Zack."

Tseng nodded and went to meet them while Sephiroth put things away.

Three pairs of sharp green eyes focused on him as soon as he entered the doorway. Yazoo was the first to get up, padding silently over to stand a respectful distance away from Tseng. Loz and Kadaj followed quickly.

Tseng let them stare for a time, then looked down at them. "Yes?"

"You're _dangerous_," Yazoo whispered.

"I am. How did you know?"

"You smell like metal," Loz murmured. "And something else."

"Death," Kadaj said, sounding satisfied.

"And spices," Yazoo added. "What are you?"

"I am a Turk."

"What is a Turk?"

"We are body guards, information gatherers, killers, and whatever else our employer requires of us. Reno is also a Turk."

The boys turned to look at Reno, who smiled lazily.

"Guilty as charged, kids."

The boys looked back at Tseng.

"Are you here to kill us?" Loz whispered.

"What? No. No, I am not. I'm here to protect you."

"Why?" Loz bit his lip. "Did we do something bad?"

Tseng shook his head. "No, you didn't. But you are precious little things…there are many people who will want to take you away from Sephiroth and hurt you. We don't want you hurt. Reno and I are here to help hide you and keep you safe until you're big and strong enough to protect yourselves."

"So…you're our friend, then?"

"I might be."

"But you don't know?"

"I don't know you yet. I can't be friends with someone I don't know."

"Oh! I'm Loz!"

"And I am Tseng."

Sephiroth smiled at the odd formality of it all from his vantage point in the hallway. No one else had silenced and fascinated the boys like Tseng. He wasn't sure how comfortable he was with it, nor with how Kadaj knew what death smelled like, but he was pleased that _someone_ could hold their attention so thoroughly. It made things considerably easier.

There was quiet conversation until the boys began to yawn and stretch and cuddle against each other, eyes flickering a little further closed with every breath. Sephiroth moved them into the bedroom then, helping them put on their pajamas and tucking them into bed before he returned to the little dining room. The collection of men surrounding the table looked considerably more serious than they had when the boys were running around.

"You need to get out of here," Rufus murmured, accepting a glass of something dark and powerful-smelling from Reno. "Even if you had the boys legally, the Tower is no place to raise children. You and I both know that."

Sephiroth nodding, sipping from his own glass. "I know. And there's no room for four of us in this little place…they need room to move. Room to run. And privacy. I think having personal space will go a long way to taming Kadaj's behavior problems."

Tseng drew something up on the tablet lying in front of him, then offered it to Sephiroth.

"These hit the market yesterday, if you want something brand new." The page showed a set of brand new two-story family homes in one of the better parts of town.

"No…nowhere fancy. They don't need that kind of life." Sephiroth took the tablet and called up a search engine, busily tapping in a string of terms. "I think _this_ is the place."

He turned the tablet around for inspection.

Angeal whistled softly.

"You sure know how to pick 'em, Seph," he murmured. "You're sure this is the place?"

"It feels right. And there's space…privacy…and a certain distance from the base. And it's quiet. Fewer questions will be asked there."

Reno grinned. "Looks like a good place, then. What's next?"

It was a long time before the group scattered, spreading out through the tower to personal quarters and offices. Longer still before any of them went to bed, and even longer before Sephiroth finally fell asleep.


End file.
